82 Nigerian women are currently sentenced to death in Nigeria, it is one of the highest female death row populations in sub-Saharan Africa.

On 4 and 5 December, ASF France, with the Mama Centre, organised a capacity-building session in Abuja on integrating a gender perspective into the fight against the death penalty.

This workshop, organised as part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, highlighted the existence of structural injustices and gender bias throughout the judicial process.

Angela UWANDU, ASF France representative in Nigeria, reiterated the urgent need to address gender bias embedded in the judicial system: ‘Women sentenced to death often face multiple forms of discrimination based on gender, poverty, ethnicity and often rooted in a history of violence.’ She recalled that, thanks to the intervention of ASF France, a woman sentenced to death by stoning under Islamic law in Katsina State for pregnancy outside marriage had her sentence overturned on appeal.

✊Supported by the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, this workshop is part of our ongoing efforts to build a stronger, more coordinated and gender-sensitive abolitionist movement in Nigeria and around the world.